Energy and Fuel Costs: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-29
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Mark Duffy (FG), Labour Panel

I thank the Minister of State for being here for this important Private Members' motion. I thank everyone in the House, including Fine Gael colleagues and members of all parties and none, who made substantial contributions to the debate.
As the Minister of State and many Senators outlined, people are facing huge pressures and it is important that those most affected by the energy crisis are supported. Everyone who has been exposed to it, whether that is those in business, those living alone, those in fuel poverty or those in fuel-intensive businesses in the agriculture and haulage sectors, needs to be supported. We have seen and heard a lot in the past year. We have seen the importance of fuel and energy to sectors, which speaks to a few points, one of which is that we need to improve our independence and security in energy. We need to be more efficient in capitalising and utilising the excess energy that is created, building better grid capacity, empowering homeowners through different schemes, including battery storage, making improvements to warmer homes schemes and ramping up delivery.
There are a lot of positive things and opportunities we can take from the crisis, but there also is the here and now and its immediate effect on the winter ahead of us. As the Minister of State mentioned, we can meet this head-on from a position of strength because of the strong management of public finances. It is important that we use this opportunity, because it is a crisis for many, to make sure we respond and deliver for those most affected.
I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, and before him, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, for being here and taking on board all the contributions from across the House. I look forward to next week with the hope that delivery can be made for all the sectors and people who need help and support the most at this time of unprecedented global energy shock. It is an external factor, as has been mentioned, but that needs to be reiterated. We need to respond now as best we can from our position.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:00:59+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-29